PH closes in on 6th with 3 more golds
NAYPYITAW—With a London Olympian, a lanky taekwondo-jin and the highly regarded 4x400m squad delivering golden performances on Thursday, Team Philippines sustained its late charge to avoid a worst finish in Southeast Asian Games history.
California-based Daniel Caluag made sure his long journey halfway around the world was worth it, topping the BMX event over his younger brother at Mount Pleasant to highlight a three-gold haul that boosted the country’s collection to 23 golds heading into the last three days of the Games here.
University of Santo Tomas journalism graduate Jade Zafra, whose calm demeanor belies her fiery nature on the mat, struck with taekwondo’s second gold when she ruled the women’s 53-57 kg division at the expense of a Thai at Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium.
And just before the day ended in this traffic-free capital, the 4×400-meter quartet anchored by 400m gold medalist Archand Christian Bagsit and also composed of Isidro del Prado Jr., Julius Nierras and Edgardo Alejan blitzed past the field for the country’s sixth gold in athletics.
The lean 210-man PH delegation also seized three silvers and a bronze to jack up its harvest to 23-27-29, moving closer to its target of 25 gold medals.
Singapore remained two golds ahead of the Philippines with a 25-gold, 24-silver, 32-bronze haul, but with strong bets in billiards, taekwondo, judo and muay, a late surge for sixth is on the cards for the country.
Thailand is poised to reclaim the overall title with an 80-79-66 tally, with Vietnam second with a 64-60-69 count as of 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Host Burma (Myanmar) was third with 60-51-56 followed by Indonesia (54-62-84) and Malaysia (32-33-63).
Setting his sights on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil, Caluag proved his worth, negotiating the tricky course with an impressive run of 31.994 seconds.
Caluag’s kid brother, Christopher, made it a 1-2 finish for the country with a 32.555 clocking. The bronze went to Indonesia’s Bagus Saputra (32.825).
“The ultimate goal is to return to the Olympics,” said Caluag, who competed in the London Games last year. “My biggest motivation in this race are the victims of Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda,’” added the Filipino-American, who wore a jersey with the words “Pray for the Philippines” emblazoned on it.
The statuesque Zafra used her length and speed to whip Thai Worawong Pongpanit, 7-1, in the women’s finals. The 5-foot-10 jin from Cavite landed clean shots to the head and body on her way to the title in her first SEA Games stint.
“They told me not to get too close and attack the head,” said Zafra, who had a brief stint as a sportswriter three months ago with sports website Spin.ph.
Bagsit became the second double gold winner of the PH delegation after leading the 400m quartet to victory in a pulsating finish.
Picking up the baton from Nierras, Bagsit overhauled a five-meter lead by the Thais as the Philippines clocked 3:09.32 for the gold. The Thais settled for the silver with 3:09.81.
Judo delivered a silver and a bronze as Helen Dawa bowed to a Vietnamese in the finals of the women’s under-48 kg. The country’s only bronze for the day also came through Bryn Quillotes in the men’ under-60 kg category.
Taekwondo also produced another silver as Christian Al Dela Cruz bowed to Burma’s Win Htun Linn, 5-8, in the 74-80 kg finals.
The unheralded muay team also fanned hopes for a gold rush in the remaining days of the Games with Jonathan Polosan beating Vietnam’s Vo Van Dai in the 63.5 kg, joining teammates Preciosa Ocaya and Philip Delarmino in Saturday finals. Polosan will face Thailand’s Panupong Panjad for gold.
Rubilen Amit and Iris Rañola looked on track for a 1-2 finish in the women’s 10-ball event after clinching spots in the quarterfinals of the event.
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